Hurd stood up straight, lowered his head and looked embarrassed as he listened to the prince's angry scolding. He didn't dare to say anything back!
This man understands China's official rules very well and is willing to abide by them. He does not have the unique arrogance of foreigners coming to the East. It is this that made him in charge of the Imperial Customs for more than 40 years in that parallel world!
A foreigner, in the turbulent officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty, actually stayed in a high position for forty years and remained as stable as a mountain. This is a miracle!
But this miracle is also caused by Hurd's character. This man knows how to respect others and be polite!
He knows that officials in the Qing Dynasty have this kind of virtue. If you make them angry and scold them, your punishment will be reduced if your boss is angry enough. It is always good to put yourself in a humble position!
It's not that he can't refute. If he wanted to, he could lay out the guilt of those disobedient Qing subordinates one by one.
Overstaffing, extortion of bribes, and chaotic business... It can be said that in recent years, the task of keeping the officials in the Qing Customs clean has broken Hart's heart!
Not to mention the accounts that are full of errors and omissions, basically one-third of the energy is devoted to the review and reconstruction of the accounts!
The troublesome work is not only here, but also the cooperative yamen that are not managed by him, the governors and generals of various port cities, and the old officials in the upper and lower circles!
Everyone must be vigilant, coordinate, and secure more funds for the empire’s finances while ensuring their own business!
Hurd also had grievances in his heart. His customs revenue increased almost every year. The huge growth benefited from the increasingly busy overseas trade after the Second Opium War.
More importantly, through Hurd's combing and moth removal, the customs revenue that was originally taken away by corrupt officials has returned to the normal tax system little by little. This is an important reason for the sharp increase in customs revenue.
But he didn't want to say a word about all these efforts and sadness today, because he really felt guilty today!
The confusion in the accounts is real, but it is not as serious as he said. As long as you work overtime, it will not affect the deportation by the Customs and Taxation Bank.
But Hurd was under tremendous pressure. He had received many hints from half a month ago. At first, many businessmen came to him to complain and complained that the old Manchu Qing Dynasty was blocking their business.
Later, the heads of Eastern business of major banks appeared, hoping that Hurd could exert influence to promote Emperor Tongzhi's imperial reforms, especially the industrialization reforms!
Immediately afterwards, the military attache from the legation also came, and Delaney stayed at his home for three full hours. During this period, a series of topics discussed in secret could not be spread out!
In the end, Gordon actually came to Hurd's home with two letters. One was a warrant from the Imperial Prime Minister Gladstone, and the other was actually a letter from the British Crown Prince!
Two documents gave Gordon the secret identity of the Eastern Envoy. He had the power to mobilize all intelligence forces in Asia. Any British agency should help!
It is not a formal official document. The identity of this secret envoy is not recognized by the British Foreign Office, or even the British Foreign Office has no authority to manage Gordon.
It is even possible that the British Foreign Office does not know that such a secret envoy to the East position exists!
But the more this happened, the more frightened Hurd became. He knew very well that the authorization Gordon received was absolutely secret and was an independent system resource mobilized outside the non-governmental system.
It's a mouthful to say, but it's easy to explain. The Empire on which the sun never sets has a set of official government agencies, and various departments coordinate with each other. There is a military department, a navy department, an intelligence department, and a diplomatic department.
All this is under the direct or indirect management of the Queen, Prime Minister, and Parliament!
But it is impossible for a country to put everything on the table, and the Queen may also have some private things she wants to do that she does not want the government system to know about.
Those big shots at the top of the empire where the sun never sets are rich and powerful, and their financial resources are comparable to those of a small country!
The power of this group of people is enough to create a shadow system outside the system, and this deeper hidden power is even more terrifying!
Hurd dared to reject some of the British government's demands, but he was still very afraid of this huge shadow! Gordon is now basically the eyes and ears of the Queen, Crown Prince and the royal family!
Any disobedient behavior by Hurd will be recorded as a stain on his life!
Facing the absolute pressure, he had no choice but to bow his head, without any possibility of a comeback!
Where Yixin was scolding, Hurd bowed his head respectfully and stopped training, his mind still sorting out what happened during this period!
He felt very guilty. On the one hand, he felt sorry for the Qing government that trusted him, but on the other hand, he was unwilling to have a stalemate with his mother country!
There is no best solution in the world, and he will have no choice but to feel sorry for himself in the end!
Listening to Yi Xin's scolding getting quieter, it seemed that the prince's anger had subsided a little. He simply gritted his teeth and took out a letter from his inner pocket of his suit, and put it on the table with an apologetic expression.
"Your Majesty...this is my dereliction of duty...I take the blame and resign!"
"What? You dare to give up your job? I'm telling you Hurd, you can't even think about running away. You can't even think about leaving the Qing Dynasty until I let you go! Bastard!"
Prince Gong scolded him, but he would never let Hurd resign, because since Hurd took over the Qing Customs in 1864, the customs tax has jumped from more than 8 million to more than 20 million taels of silver last year!
With a yearly income of 20 million taels of silver, even if half of it is used to repay the foreigners' compensation, the remaining half is enough for the court to do a lot of things!
Moreover, the trade volume of each seaport is increasing year by year, especially in Jiangnan, where there is a sufficient supply of banknotes, the business scale is expanding rapidly.
At the beginning of the year, Hart budgeted that customs revenue this year is likely to reach about 25 million taels!
The ability to seize such a large amount of wealth was due to the skills of foreign devils. This would have been unthinkable under the old customs system of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.
Seeing that Hurd was making a fuss about giving up his choice, Prince Gong quickly relaxed his expression and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hurd... you sit down first. I was impatient just now, but you should know that now the empire's stall is too big and precarious, and all kinds of things are pressing on me. There is nothing I can do about it!"
"Our Qing Customs practice is to settle a tax bill every quarter, that is, three months. In March, your customs tax deposit was 5.2 million taels, and 2.1 million was allocated to compensation, and the rest was transferred to Tobe!"
"Isn't this a good start? Customs taxes can only increase in June and September! I think the goal you mentioned is a piece of cake!"
"How did this happen? The accounts are in chaos after only three months? And it affects the deportation money? You'd better tell me the truth!"
"What's going on? Even if you don't care about the Qing Dynasty and the friendship between us, you know you still have to consider your future development!"
"If you submit your resignation at this time, what will your colleagues in Europe think of you? They will say...it's because of your incompetence that the Qing Customs has turned into a mess!"
"You have no ability, so you left the Qing Dynasty in despair!"
"Think about it, if you return to China with such a reputation, who will hire you in the future?"
